What is asthma, and what causes it?

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that makes your airways become narrow and inflamed, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When the airways become inflamed, they swell and get very sensitive, which makes them tighten and let less air into and out of your lungs.

Symptoms of asthma include wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing, according to the NIH, though not everyone with asthma has these symptoms. The best way to tell if you have asthma is to get tested by your doctor.

Causes of asthma, according to the NIH, include:

During infancy, being in contact with airborne allergens or being exposed to some viruses

Some respiratory infections in childhood

Inherited asthma

Inherited tendency to have allergies

Though the exact cause of asthma is not known, the NIH states that research shows that a combination of genetic and environmental factors cause asthma, usually early in life.

For more information about asthma and its causes, talk with your physician.

What happens to the body during an asthma attack?

When the airways become inflamed, they swell and get sensitive, which makes them tighten. As they grow tighter, they less air into and out of your lungs, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Symptoms of asthma include wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing, according to the NIH.

Talk with your doctor for more information about what happens during an asthma attack.

Why is it important for people to monitor their asthma?

Making sure people are informed and educated about how to manage their asthma on their own is one of the most important parts of controlling and caring for the disease, according to the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Keeping a journal of your daily symptoms can be an important way to keep track of and accurately share them with your doctor, according to the American Lung Association (ALA).

There are four key symptoms, according to the ALA, for people with asthma to monitor:

Activity level – Write down any difficulty you have throughout the day with normal activities including climbing stairs, chores, playing with your kids or walking

Daytime symptoms – Tack how often asthma symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and wheezing happen during the day

Nighttime symptoms – Keep track of coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing or any other symptoms that keep you up or wake you during the night

Rescue inhaler use – Track how often you use your rescue inhaler to help with asthma symptoms

For more information about tracking your asthma symptoms and why it’s important, talk with your doctor.

Dayton is ranked 21st in a list of the worst cities for people living with asthma in 2014. What causes Dayton to be so difficult for asthma sufferers?

The report shows that where you live has an effect on how many and how bad of asthma triggers you are exposed to. Factors the lead to the city listing included air pollution, pollen counts, secondhand smoke, poverty, uninsured families and emergency department visits, according to the AAFA.

Living in a city in which asthma ranks as a high burden shows how the environment in the area could negatively affect your quality of life, cost of living and access to care, according to the AAFA.

In the study, Dayton ranked “worse that average” in the categories of prevalence, annual pollen score, poverty rate, emergency visits for asthma, use of quick release medication and use of control medication, according to the AAFA.

The city was rated “average” in crude death rate for asthma, air quality, uninsured rate and number of asthma specialists, according to the AAFA, and it was rated “better than average in public smoke-free laws and school inhaler access law.

Talk to your physician for more information about factors that can lead to problems for allergy sufferers in certain cities.

How serious is pneumonia, and what can be done to prevent it?

Pneumonia can become very serious if there are complications, including bacteria in the bloodstream and
pleural effusion, according to the American Academy of Family
Physicians (AAFP). Pleural effusion is when fluid builds
up in the tissue between the lungs and chest wall and becomes infected.

It is most likely that these complications will happen in people who smoke, people over 65 and people with
heart and lung problems, according to the AAFP.

The best ways to prevent pneumonia, according to the AAFP, include:

Avoiding sick people

Getting the flu vaccine

Getting the pneumococcal vaccine

Having good hygiene, including frequent hand washing

Not smoking

For more information about how serious pneumonia can be and how to prevent it, talk with your doctor.

Are there any long-term effects from having pneumonia?

If your pneumonia is not treated and gets out of control, it is possible that the illness could cause
damage to your lungs that creates a need for a breathing machine, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Severe pneumonia that is not treated properly or quickly enough can also lead to death, according to the
NIH.

Talk to your physician for more information about possible long-term effects of pneumonia.

What is available today to help someone quit smoking?

There are many options available today to help people quit smoking. There are a variety of apps and online resources to help you track your progress, according to smokefree.gov, a site dedicated to helping people quit smoking.

Medication options also are available. Many of these medications are even covered by most insurance companies, according to Premier Physician Network (PPN) physicians.

Nicotine replacement gums, patches, inhalers, and more also are available, but aren’t typically covered by insurance companies.

Is it easy to confuse bronchitis and pneumonia?

Physician Assistant Breanna Veal discusses whether bronchitis and pneumonia can be easily confused. Click play to watch the video or read the transcript.

Is it easy to confuse bronchitis and pneumonia?

Very easy to confuse bronchitis and pneumonia, because they have such similarities. When you start talking about cough, sometimes trouble breathing, sometimes fever, so it can be very difficult to differentiate between bronchitis and pneumonia.

The major difference between the two is that bronchitis is most often caused by a virus, and pneumonia is most often caused by bacteria. This is important not only in your diagnosis, but also in your treatment.

Talk to your doctor for more information about how easy it can be to confuse bronchitis and pneumonia.

Are there distinct symptoms that can be used to tell bronchitis and pneumonia apart?

Physician Assistant Breanna Veal discusses symptom differences of bronchitis and pneumonia. Click play to watch the video or read the transcript.

Are there distinct symptoms that can be used to tell bronchitis and pneumonia apart?

There's typically not distinct symptoms that can tell pneumonia and bronchitis apart, because they typically overlap with cough, fever, sometimes difficulty breathing as well.

The ways to tell bronchitis and pneumonia apart are typically you would need to obtain an x-ray, a chest radiograph to determine if there are signs of consolidation or infiltrate on the chest radiograph. If that is found, typically that is more consistent with pneumonia. On a chest radiograph bronchitis does not really show any specific findings. So that is definitely one way to tell the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia. There are a few other things also; sometimes when the respiratory rate is more increased, that typically goes for pneumonia, also fever, although you can find it in both, usually happens more so with pneumonia as well, but again, it can be as bronchitis as well.

Because many of the symptoms of bronchitis and pneumonia are the same, it can be tricky to tell the difference between the two.

Fortunately, having a chest X-ray can show a visible difference between what the lungs look like with bronchitis and with pneumonia, Premier Physician Network (PPN) physicians say.

Talk to your doctor for more information about how to determine whether a sickness is bronchitis or pneumonia.

This website provides general medical information that should be used for informative and educational purposes only. Information found here should not be used as a substitute for the personal, professional medical advice of your physician. Do not begin any course of treatment without consulting a physician